John Le Carre's series of espionage novels featuring George Smiley and his colleagures.

John Le Carre, "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"

2004-02-25 · in Books, George Smiley · 120 words

Bought from a Sevenoaks School library sale many years ago along with several other Le Carre books; I'd never read this one for some reason.

George Smiley, retired, helps a colleague to figure out the events that have lead to the Circus's downfall. What we have, therefore, is effectively an understated whodunnit with a lot of espionage jargon thrown in — but it manages successfully to avoid ever getting boring or repetitive. It's more character-driven that the other Le Carre stories I remember, mostly because Smiley's forced to go around talking to his ex-colleagues for most of the book rather than taking action himself.

I'll have to dig out the rest of my Le Carre collection, I think. Recommended.

ISBN 0340739614.

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